How to Leverage Strategic Days to Boost Your 2024 Giving

If your place of worship has ever participated in days like Easter/Resurrection Sunday or GivingTuesday, you’ve witnessed the powerful impact of strategic giving days firsthand.  

These days include national holidays, religious observances, and general awareness days that draw attention to and celebrate a particular group or cause. They offer opportunities to encourage people to give in support of the people, places, and causes that matter most to them. 

Strategic giving days offer places of worship the opportunity to drive significantly higher giving than that of a typical Sunday. For instance, last year on GivingTuesday, giving in the U.S. totaled $3.1 billion. On Easter/Resurrection Sunday of 2023 — the most-attended worship day of the year — generous donors on Givelify collectively gave more than $9 million to their churches. 

These donations have enabled places of worship to do more good for their communities and move closer to achieving their annual fundraising goals. 

Easter/Resurrection Sunday and GivingTuesday are two of the most well-known days that drive an increase in giving. Yet, many other days throughout the year can inspire the same heartfelt generosity. 

Imagine the impact your congregation could make year-round by channeling more generosity into the causes and projects you and your supporters care about most. 

Let’s explore why it’s important to recognize these strategic days and how your place of worship can leverage them to have an even greater impact in 2024. 

Plus, we’ll provide a list of some of the most well-known national holidays, religious observances, and awareness days that take place throughout the year. 

The importance of strategic giving days 

Days like national holidays, religious observances, and awareness days create opportunities for your organization to:

Bring awareness to specific community needs

Certain days throughout the year aim to generate awareness for specific causes like hunger relief, social justice, and education, among many others. As a place of worship, recognizing and celebrating these days allows you to bring the community causes that matter most to you and your members to center stage.  

Encourage collective generosity  

The beauty of giving days is that they unite people around a common goal or cause. And together, this collective generosity can help further your place of worship’s mission in a way you simply couldn’t do on your own.

Connect with others who share your mission

Not only do certain days bring awareness to specific needs and causes, they also inspire people who are passionate about those causes to contribute. If your organization is an advocate for hunger relief, celebrating days like National Food Bank Day can attract other people who share that same passion — offering you even greater support in furthering your mission.

Promote fundraising and giving campaigns  

Identifying important dates throughout the year can help your organization further its fundraising efforts. Recognizing these days provides opportunities to engage with your supporters and make specific appeals to give to your place of worship. 

By organizing fundraising campaigns around strategic giving days, you can promote your giving campaigns, motivate members to give, and reach your annual financial goals.

How places of worship can leverage strategic days to do more good 

Understanding the importance of giving days is one thing. But how can you use these days to help further your mUnderstanding the importance of national holidays, religious observances, and awareness days is one thing. But how can you use these days to help further your mission and put more good into the world? Here are a few simple tips to help your place of worship make the most of these days.

Focus your efforts 

There are many different holidays, observances, and awareness days but that doesn’t mean you should try to leverage every one of them. Focusing on strategic days that align with your mission and vision and resonate with your members will bring far better results. 

If your place of worship is passionate about women’s causes, International Women’s Day would be a momentous day to mark on your calendar.   

On the other hand, a giving day like World Blood Donor Day, although an important awareness day for some organizations, may not be right for you. Quality is better than quantity.  

Keep communication with members timely and relevant 

Although not every day on the calendar should be leveraged to grow your giving, other days can still be useful in guiding communications with your members and supporters. 

Even though a national holiday like Veteran’s Day may not relate to your organization’s mission, it can still be a good day for your organization to acknowledge and celebrate in an authentic and engaging way.   

Staying in tune with prominent days will help you keep your communications timely and relevant, as well as provide you with more opportunities to engage with your supporters throughout the year. 

Plan for the year ahead 

After you’ve identified which days to focus on, you can use your calendar to brainstorm and plan out campaigns and communications for the year. 

Perhaps one of your goals for the year is to raise enough money to start an after-school youth program at your church. What days could you leverage to encourage members of your congregation to support your goal?  

Or maybe your place of worship’s mission is to fund a community food bank and provide meals to those in need. What days could you celebrate to bring more awareness to this cause? 

Aligning your goals for the year with relevant holidays, observances, and awareness days can help you develop a plan to help fund important and impactful projects in your community. 

Make a greater impact with Givelify 

As we usher in a new year, there’s no better time to lay out your plans for success in the year ahead. Our list of annual holidays, religious observances, and awareness days can help you align your goals with days that raise awareness and inspire generosity for the people and causes you and your supporters care about most. 

With the right plans and technology in place, you can meet your fundraising goals and grow your annual giving in 2024 and beyond. 

By offering a mobile donation app like Givelify, your donors can easily give to your place of worship at any time and from anywhere. 

So, whether it’s Easter/Resurrection Sunday or GivingTuesday, the next time your members feel compelled to give, doing so is simple. With Givelify, we aim to harness the power of technology to help donors express what’s already in their hearts: the desire to be generous. We accomplish this with a beautiful, award-winning, three-tap mobile giving app experience. 

As a place of worship, you can also set up custom giving envelopes for building funds, community projects, and other causes. That way, when you use strategic days to make specific appeals to members, they can direct their giving to the related envelope. 

By simplifying giving to your place of worship, you can harness the collective generosity of your supporters and put more good into the world — one day at a time.

2024 national holidays, religious observances, and awareness days

Use this list of national holidays, important religious observances, and prominent cause awareness days and months to connect with members and inspire generosity year-round. 

Click on the links for best practices and tips from Givelify to raise more for your place of worship’s mission and fund impactful projects in the community. 

January

• First Fruits January 
• Monday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day   
• Monday, Jan. 15: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

February 

• Thursday, Feb. 1–Thursday, Feb. 29: Black History Month   
• Monday, Feb. 19: Presidents’ Day

March 

• Friday, March 1–Sunday, March 31: Women’s History Month  
• Sunday, March 10–Tuesday, April 9: Ramadan   
• Sunday, March 31: Easter/Resurrection Sunday

April 

• Monday, April 1–Tuesday, April 30: National Volunteer Month   
• Tuesday, April 9–Wednesday, April 10: Eid al-Fitr   
• Monday, April 22–Tuesday, April 30: Passover    
• Monday, April 15: Tax Day

May 

• Wednesday, May 1–Fri, May 31: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month   
• Sunday, May 12: Mother’s Day   
• Monday, May 27: Memorial Day

June 

• Sunday, June 16: Father’s Day   
• Wednesday, June 19: Juneteenth

July 

• Thursday, July 4: Independence Day

August 

• Various: Back to School

September 

• Sunday, Sept. 1 – Monday, Sept. 30: National Hispanic Heritage Month   
• Sunday, Sept. 1 – Monday, Sept. 30: Hunger Action Month   
• Monday, Sept. 2: Labor Day    
• Friday, Sept. 6: National Food Bank Day   
• Sunday, Sept. 15: National Back to Church Sunday 

October 

• Tuesday, Oct. 1–Thursday, Oct. 31: Clergy Appreciation Month   
• Tuesday, Oct. 1–Thursday, Oct. 31: Breast Cancer Awareness Month   
• Wednesday, Oct. 2–Friday, Oct. 4: Rosh Hashanah  
• Friday, Oct. 11–Saturday, Oct. 12: Yom Kippur  
• Sunday, Oct. 13: Clergy Appreciation Day 

November 

• Friday, Nov. 1: Diwali   
• Monday, Nov. 11: Veteran’s Day   
• Thursday, Nov. 28: Thanksgiving

December 

• Tuesday, Dec. 3: GivingTuesday   
• Wednesday, Dec. 25: Christmas   
• Wednesday, Dec. 25–Thursday, Jan. 2: Hanukkah   
• Thursday, Dec. 26–Wednesday, Jan 1: Kwanzaa   
• Tuesday, Dec. 31: New Year’s Eve